P.P.
Despite my willingness to serve you and to give every assistance to the poor, as I have always done, yes I am unable to do so ––
I have no copyist of my own, and the one who has always worked for me is not available at the moment –– Hence on every occasion I must now have recourse to copyists I know nothing about. One of them has promised me to copy the overtures [Opus 117 and 113] for you, and so forth. But Holy Week, when concerts are held everywhere, does not allow this one to keep his promises, and that too in spite of all my efforts. –– Even if the overtures and the march with chorus had been copied, it would not be possible to let you have them by this mail coach and, if they were dispatched by the next one, even so the music would arrive too late for Easter Sunday –– Show me how and where are you can gain the necessary extra time for yourself, or find some extraordinary opportunity for the dispatch of these works. Then I will do my utmost to help the poor.
With kindest regards, your most devoted
Ludwig van Beethoven